Char Siew Fix at Spring Golden Restaurant, Shah Alam

BBQ pork or Char Siew is a famous street-side, Chinese hawker dish that everyone loves. But what makes a great plate for Char Siew?

Is it the perfect fat to lean ratio of meat? Is it the skewers of pork meat marinated in a secret, homemade honey hoisin sauce, then roasted till it resembles charred, savory, and sticky sweet perfection?

Some folks will swear by a super fatty pork belly, and some say, only the meatier pork loin, or pork shoulder will do. Some folks like the area in between. Well what ever rocks your boat, I say, but for me, Char Siew still needs to be somewhat fatty. Yup, I like it when the fat and meat look like it has crystalized at the core, held together by a dark, caramelized sticky, gooey outer later.

One of the iconic places to eat this sort of sticky, gooey and incredibly addictive Char Siew, is at Spring Golden Restaurant in Shah Alam. Half fat, half lean (pun fei sao) is the only way to go. The well roasted meat is tender and succulent with layers of fat that melts in your mouth, yet it does not taste or feel greasy. Such is the illusion of great Char Siew!

Well it obviously is 100% cholesterol and fat laden, but we choose to ignore it, for the temporary bliss of eating. And although the char siew at Spring Golden looks coated with a layer of sticky syrup, it is actually not as sweet as it looks. In fact, it possesses a nice balance in savouriness, sweetness and smokiness.

The charsiew sauce is also phenomenally good here and we love dunking our meat in it – Cumi likes to pour it all over his wantan noodles.

The other thing we adore is the roasted duck and can never get enough. It ranks way up there, with some of our favorite roast duck restaurants around town.

For lovers of the pork trotters in vinegar (chee kiok chow), this place has an amazing version. Wobbly cartilage, fat and soft meat from the trotters of the pig – impressively tender, and heart stoppingly good. Sakura Pork is also another hot favorite here. Apparently the pigs are antibiotic free and fed a special feed (if you can believe the source) and tastes superb. You can’t just walk in and eat this, so be warned that you need to book ahead for the Sakura piggy.

Delicious, glistening Char Siew 

Spring Golden has probably the best barbeque pork in Shah Alam. The crowds that make the daily pilgrimage to this shoplot in the middle of the industrial area certainly attest to this fact. For the non-muslim residents in Shah Alam, it is the most convenient location to find quality charsiew pork. The next option would have been the Meng Kee version in Hicom Glenmarie. We think Spring Golden tops Meng Kee. What about you? Do you have another place to recommend?